What Jobs Will be Hit Hard by the A.I. Revolution

Nobody knows whether the day when people will be replaced by robots will be happiest in history, or, conversely, one of the most tragic. But the fact that technology develops at a great rate gives all the grounds to think that this will happen. What occupations will be replaced by robots and whose workplaces will be occupied is a subject-matter of recent Oxford Economics’ survey.

The company has prepared a report, where it has predicted that by 2030, the manufacturing sector will lose 20 million jobs. So far, the situation is not critical: since 2000, losses amounted to only 1.7 million jobs. Among them — 400,000 were in Europe, 260,000 were in the United States and 550,000 were in China.

For the future, experts predict that the European Union will lose 2 million jobs, the United States — almost 1.7 million, South Korea — 800,000, China 11 million, and the rest of the world — 3 million.

Experts predict that such a trend will accelerate. The introduction of each new industrial robot in developed countries destroys 1.6 of the workplace, in the most developed countries, this figure is 1.3, and in the poorest countries — 2.2.

What Does it Depend On?

The economic status of the country plays the role of accelerating robotics. The poorer the country is, the more it depends on the low skilled workforce, and the more it suffers from robotics.

The employees cannot influence how the automation process is moving. According to a survey, six out of ten workers did not receive voting rights when introducing new technologies in production. In this case, 80% of them noted that automation had an impact on their financial position.

Scientists predict that 20 years of unemployment will affect about 35% of the Earth’s population (which is more than 2 billion people).

Workers of practically all spheres are under threat. First of all, it concerns workers in the field of transport and freight. Unmanned trains and cars are not uncommon for a long time. These include waiters, journalists, lawyers, doctors, soldiers and, even, “priestesses of love”.

Although, it is interesting that among the 300 occupations that existed in the United States in 1950, to date, only one of them did not survive through automation: elevator operators were replaced by automatic doors. Perhaps, by 2030, the changes will not be as radical as we are predicting?